The entering of himself into the provisional license exam had come the training camp incident. Being among the students but having no way to help them had taken its toll on him, especially after his hesitance had contributed to the kidnapping of one Katsuki Bakugo. Even now, as they stood next to each other in the extra lessons, he couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye. He had failed the boy that day and this was his attempts to start making up for it. If he was going to be any help to this world then he needed to raise his staff once again and take a fighting stance. He could no longer risk walking along the sidelines while others suffered to readily for what they believed in. He had thrown himself headfirst into the provisional license exam test, however, he had failed by a single point; his appearance deemed by some to be ‘too threatening’ despite his soft spoken countenance. Regardless, he had thrown himself readily into the extra lessons, prepared for the combat that they expected as they arrived with Present Mic and All Might.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was the sudden wave of children to overtake the stadium. This was their test, they had to reach the hearts of these children. A truly vague instruction, yet one he understood. A hero couldn’t simply be combat strength alone, they had to be a trusted pillar to those in danger. It was a position not that different from the one he had had in his home world. As leader of an army, not only did he require skill, but he required the trust of those following him more than anything else. That trust, was one that could never waver. Watching as the others struggled with the children among them, he couldn’t help but think of those times. Ah, but he was getting distracted now, wasn’t he? Placing a charming smile on his face, he stood by Todoroki as he attempted to speak with some of the children, each on giving him a hard time by giving him an odd nickname. He placed a hand upon his shoulder, a motion that urged him to keep his chin up. Kneeling down in front of those same children, he smiled gently; noting how immediately some of the younger ones backed away.
“Do not be afraid,” He said softly “I promise, I might look menacing but I want to do my best to protect you and be someone you can look up to”. He had always had a way with children, but as several of the boys began to flock to him, he began to realise what Gang Orca had said when he said ‘problem children’.
“Whoa!” One of them jumped up in excitement “Your eyepatch is so cool!”
“Did you really lose your eye or do you just like wearing it?” Another interjected.
“Can we see? Huh? Can we see?” Another blurted, several of them reaching out to grab at the sash, though Killian was quick to dodge, a nervous laugh escaping him as he made a point of tightening the sash around his head.
“Yes, I did lose it,” He admitted to them, still crouched on one knee “And no, I would rather you all not have to see something so unsightly. Young aspiring heroes should look to joys of the future, not the pains of the past...”. He raised his palms then, laughing softly at some of their disappointment and pouting.
“Will you at least tell us how you lost it?” One of them pleaded as a small girl from the group that had been hiding from him approached slowly. Again, Killian shook his head.
“Surely you want a story filled with action and heroic statements,” He laughed, a hand raising up to his sash “But I am afraid the story of my eye is a rather sad one, and certainly not one you should like to hear!”. The children grunted and complained again but seemed to finally let the topic go; insulting the man by calling him ‘boring’ to his face. He merely laughed softly again, boring, he could live with that. Children of this age did not need to know of the trauma that came from his land. He let out a relieved sigh, glancing up to the men in the stands that had come with them, meeting the steel blue eyes of All Might, he felt some comfort. This comfort he shared with the boy standing behind him. Truly, children in this world were hard work, at least in his home land he had something in common with the children. Human children were so different. Humans in general had a tenacity about them that could be match by few others.
Placing a clawed hand into the dirt below them, he had planned to push himself to stand; a soft sigh escaping his lips. He had been thinking so much of his home land lately, he was starting to miss even more. The thoughts of old memories, triggered by the short discussion he had had with the children, filled his head so readily that he did not even notice the young girl from before approaching him. And when she did, he was met with the sudden pressure of her palm against his forehead.
“I want to see it,” She said softly. And as those words fell from her lips, a pulse ran through Killian’s skull. It was like a hot iron rod going through his brain and with a choked gasp he stumbled back, clutching the sides of it with a pained growl. His eye watered with the pain and as he opened it, he could see the air around him beginning to ripple, as though something were being drawn from his body. He could feeling it pulling out of his skull, blurring his vision as he gripped onto the first thing he could find; the arm of Bakugo. He was gasping, the air being knocked from him as what was being drawn from him began to form an image in front of everyone. It took him a few moments to recognise it at first, the pain beginning to subside as the image became clearer. The stadium floor remained the same, but it surroundings had changed to a crumbled battlefield. Buildings of gold and sandstone littered the landscape and as Killian stood he could see his nightmare forming in front of him once again. His grip on Bakugo lessened, his single lavender eye widening in terror. This was- No, no it couldn’t be.
“Whoa! Your quirk is great!” One of the kids called out “Now we can watch his memory like an action movie!”. It took a few moments for those words to sink into the Pixi’s mind, his fingers slipping from the student’s arm as he glanced around. This...
“Watch... my memory...” He whispered “But this is-”.
A tremendous roar suddenly shook the stadium, it was a call that had never been heard by human ears before. It was distorted, it spoke of death and though the memory was only an illusion, Killian could swear in that moment that he could smell the sickness from it. His breath caught in his throat. They were going to watch his memory unfold, children were going to see such pain... Such anguish. And it was with the appearance of two figures running into the setting, that Killian finally acted.
“Todoroki!” He called, his voice firm yet filled with fear “Cover the children with an ice dome! Whatever you can do, do not let them see!”.
He could only hope the young student would listen to him, as he stared at the two figures of that memory. They ran, one carried the other over his shoulder while he was injured, his skin was dark and scarred and blood was stained across his clothes. The other, was Killian himself.
He looked younger, far younger than he was now with both eyes intact and blood pouring from various wounds that had been messily patched up, auburn hair that reached only to his shoulder pouring over his face as it weakly looked back to where they had run from.
“Tobias...” His voice spoke weakly, claws digging into the back of his dear friend’s shirt “Leave me here, please. You can make it back to the castle without me; let me distract them long enough for you to make it”. Even the way he spoke was different, like that of a boy who had only barely became a man, so youthful and hopeless. The Killian that watched the memory play in front of them, could only bring his hands to his shoulders. No, no, of all memories why did it have to be this one? Why?
“That isnt going to happen, my dear friend,” The other chuckled as he struggled to keep up a pace with Killian’s arm looped around his shoulder “I’d hate to think of my child growing up without their Uncle... And think of Seria, she needs her brother now more than ever.”
“They’re catching up-” The memory of Killian spoke, the tremendous roar that had once deafened the stadium sounded again and he coughed up blood into his palm as a loud thumping began to shake the very building “Tobias, we aren’t going to make it like this-”.
“Not with words like that we won’t,” The other insisted, the memory of them slipping directly in front of the faces of Bakugo and the Killian of present day. Up this close, Killian could now see the uncertainty in his old friend’s face. Yes, it seemed even at that moment, he had already decided what had to be done. Killian reached out, despite everything telling him that this wasn’t real, that it couldn’t be real. He reached out for his friend’s hand with a whispered plea.
“Don’t do it...” He choked, tears beginning to form in his single eye “Tobias, please-”. But his hand passed through nothing but mist as their form slipped to the side, turning suddenly to the direction they had been running. Another form had entered the memory with a shuddering thud of its feet. It was a form that could not be described, an inky black mass barely resembling the shape of what it once was; extra appendages formed across it body; moving as it did. It stepped towards them with another shuddering step and Killian clutched at his eye in agony, the beast lost within him struggling against him; reacting to even the memory of the sight of its brethren. His senses became overloaded. He could suddenly smell the scent of decay as the memory of that beast opened its mouth to roar once again, exposing jagged teeth stained with blood. In the gaps of those teeth, one could see the remains of his battalion. Arms and legs partially chewed hanging out the side of its mouth, some even falling as it walked, panting, towards the pair.
“Run, Tobias,” The memory of Killian insisted, standing on injured feet as he pushed his friend to the side. With shaking hands, he raised his sword. Despite his pain he pushed through it, he had to, for he had to protect him.
“Killian-” Tobias started, the Pixi reaching out for him.
“I said go!” Killian growled, a fierceness in his eyes that quickly molded to sadness “Please, it is my fault they got this far... Let me rectify this mistake...”
“By letting you kill yourself?” The other retorted, glancing between himself and the monster that approached. To this, the memory of Killian could only smile at him sadly.
“A necessary punishment”.
“Killian, no!” The older Pixi yelled out as Killian lunged from his shaky standing position. What drove his movements seemed a mixture of pain, anger and anguish. The desire to be punished spoke strongly to him. As he ran, he thought of all the lives that had been lost, all those that would never see their families again. How could he, their General, their leader, be the only one to return home. No, he wouldn’t allow it. He wouldn’t let them die in vain. With his last breath he would take down this behemoth. And put himself to rest.
His movements were swift but uneven, the pain from his injuries causing his body to creak and moan and push against his will. Slicing with his sword, he took off one of the beast’s feet and it reared up with a distorted cry. Slicing again, he took down another and another; praying to knock the beast off balance. It screamed and lunged, catching his arms with the tips of its teeth but even then the Pixi did not waver. With tears in his eyes he continued, his movements becoming more animalistic by the moment, less rational; driven by his rage. Perhaps it was this state of mind, or the state of his body; that caused his mistake. Having sliced through what he believed to be all of the beast’s limbs, he lunged for its head, a discoloured marking inside of its mouth. One strike with his blade and it could be over, it would be over. But as he leapt, a clawed foot stretched from its spine, bending and lurching around before pinning the Pixi with such force that the Earth cracked beneath him.
Pinned face first to the ground, Killian groaned and grunted, letting out a scream as he felt several thick claws pierce into the skin of his back. The beast dragged him slightly, as though playing with him and the Pixi could do little more than scream again, the pain searing through his body. Seeing it play in front of him, it was enough for the present day Killian to wince, his arms wrapping around his waist to hold against the scars that throbbed.
The beast’s mouth raised and twisted, its head turning towards the man that lay under its grip; its prey. His horrid breath poured into his face and the trapped Pixi could do little more than stare out in fear as it pulled its head back, ready to lunge for the killing blow. Killian closed his eyes solemnly, prepared for his death. But the Killian that stood mere feet away, could only curl forward in agony.
“Tobias-” He whispered under his breath “Why didn’t you just run...?”.
The monster’s mouth made contact, but not with the Pixi trapped under it’s claws. But instead with the man that had ran into the frey with not but a small dagger in his hand. The man known as Tobias, now lay broken inside the beast’s mouth and all Killian could do was stare in horror from his trapped position.
“Tobias-” He breathed “No... No, no, no- Why? WHY DIDN’T YOU RUN!?”.
The man was bloodied and broken, jagged teeth pushing through his shoulders, legs and stomach that ground into him, causing him to grunt in pain. And yet, despite this, his lips raised into a smile, his teeth stained with his own blood as tears began to drip down his face.
“Because...” He whispered “I think we both know who she’d rather have home...”.
And with one final act, Tobias swung with his dagger, pushing it deep into the discoloured section of the beast’s mouth, screaming out with a growl as he had to pull his impaled arm from one of its teeth to push the blade in further. Immediately, the beast stood away from Killlian, letting out an inhuman shriek as it began to thrash its head, hitting it against the buildings that surrounded them and causing a shower of debris to fall from them. With each hit its head took, its jaw tightened its grip; and one could hear the bones of the man within its grasp creaking and snapping. All while, the injured man that had once been pinned, could do little more than crawl at the dirt under him; trying desperately to pull himself closer.
“Tobias!” He screamed out, clawing fiercely with his bloodied hands; tears falling from his grief stricken eyes “TOBIAS!”.
“No, no, no!” He clawed even more, pulling his body barely an inch forward in his desperation, despite the limpness of the other’s body proving that it was already too late “No, it can’t end like this, please, please-!”. His words turned into broken sobs, his clawing slowly stopping and his hands falling limp and failing him. And through the tears in his eyes, he could do little more than watch as the behemoth reared itself onto its rear legs in a final death cry as its body fell back into the ruins it and its brethren had helped create. Its fall was mighty, debris being sent into the air and falling with loud thuds as though the images were as real as the day they had occurred. And with the fall of that beast, came silence. Silence, except for the sobs of a broken man that lay so bloodied and broken. The sobs of a man whom had lost something so important in that single moment.
The Killian of present day had long since stopped watching, his hands clutched so deeply into his shoulders that his claws had pierced the muscle and caused them to bleed. Blood dripped from his elbows onto the stadium floor as the images in front of them began to disappear as quickly as they had appeared. The sobs of his memory faded away into complete silence. A silence unlike any that had been witnessed before. The walls of the stadium appeared again, the buildings crumbled away, as did the beast and those it had harmed. As the memory vanished, now all eyes were on the man that it had come from. With a single eye cast to the ground, the Pixi took several deep breaths before removing his claws from his flesh. No one dared approach him in that moment. Raising his head, one could see his gaze was empty, as though someone had removed his very soul from his person.
“I’m sorry,” He said hollowly, though he still forced a smile to his lips as he glanced at those around him, locking eyes with All Might in the stands “I appear to have made a mess of myself... I’ll take my leave and have it looked at...”. He offered a bow to Gang Orca and the others. It was formal, a hand placed to his chest and one to the small of his back. And with little more interaction, he stepped towards the exit of the main arena; one that entered into one of the smaller halls that led to the staircases. And though he appeared to walk fine, there was little direction in his step. Where was he going? He wasn’t sure. His vision was blurry, and everything felt fake. Though he reached out to the cold walls of the hallway, he could still feel the dirt under his claws like back then. He could still see the buildings crumbling around them. His head started to spin. He steps became uncoordinated and he gripped tightly to one of the walls, leaving behind a bloody handprint. His breathing came raggedly as his chest tightened and his stomach churned. With one final lurch he had paused in the hallway, finding that the only thing he could do...
